For many observers these days, watching a Lakers game is about the youngsters: rookie D'Angelo Russell and sophomores Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson.
This trio is the key of a return to glory for the Lakers franchise, which leads us to this question: How will they do when they are no longer the sideshow to Kobe Bryant's farewell tour?
The clues are surprisingly upbeat.
Two big wins
Naturally there is a widespread desire to watch Bryant be the Black Mamba one last time, even if it means enduring those 4-for-18 shooting nights in hopes of catching even a fleeting glimpse of vintage Bryant.
But fans hoping that there are brighter days ahead for the Lakers, while suffering through the worst season in franchise history, have also looked for signs that the young players are learning on the job, from Bryant and from their own experience.
Which brings us to this week.
On Sunday, the Lakers dismantled the Golden State Warriors in what was -- in terms of win percentage -- the largest upset in NBA history.
While Bryant played 24 minutes and scored 12 points, he also made an impact as an unofficial coach, according to Russell: "Kobe kept us on our toes. He was coaching us the whole game from the sideline, telling us to push it when we got it, don't wait, and it worked." The result was the Lakers' best game of the season.
On Tuesday, the training wheels came off. With Bryant out resting his shoulder, Russell, Clarkson and Randle combined for 74 points in a win against the Orlando Magic. According to Elias, it marked the first time in Lakers history that three players 23 or younger scored at least 20 points in the same game.
It's not that they won two straight games, something they've done multiple times this season. It's how they won: first with Bryant in a complementary role and then with no Bryant at all, both times winning on the backs of their building blocks.
Without the Mamba
So we have to ask: Are the young players better without Bryant?
For the season, those three have shared the floor for 780 minutes, which ranks third among all Lakers three-man lineup combinations. For all the handwringing over Lakers coach Byron Scott not focusing enough on the future, that actually ranks as the third-most minutes played by any Lakers trio.
As is the case with the Lakers as a whole, lineup data reveals that those three have been better with Bryant off the floor.
In the 454 minutes they've played together with Bryant, the Lakers have been outscored by 13.5 points per 100 possessions.
In 326 minutes played without Bryant, the Lakers have been outscored by 8.6 points per 100 possessions.
By itself, getting outscored by 8.6 points per 100 possessions isn't much to get excited about. That would rank 29th in the NBA during the season, better than only the Philadelphia 76ers, hardly a reason to start planning championship parades in downtown Los Angeles.
Still, it's about five points better than they have played with Bryant, so there is one clue about what a brighter future looks like in L.A.
On the March
The real eye-opening stuff begins taking shape when we look at March only. In this small sample, the young trio has clicked in a new way.
Russell, Randle and Clarkson have logged 62 minutes together -- with Bryant off the floor -- since the beginning of March. In those 62 minutes, the Lakers have scored a whopping 118.4 points per 100 possessions while outscoring opponents by 2.2 points per 100 possessions.
Before March, lineups featuring the young trio without Bryant were scoring just 97.0 points per 100 possessions, a mark they've surpassed in each game they've played together in March.
So just how solid is that net efficiency of 2.2 points per 100 possessions? It's better than the net efficiency this season of four Western Conference teams currently on track for the playoffs: Dallas, Portland, Memphis and Houston.
What's new?
How have they done it? In short, by jacking up the pace and cutting down the turnovers, as you can see here.
They are playing over five more possessions per 48 minutes compared to the first four months. And they've cut down the turnovers by more than 50 percent, turning the ball over on just 9.4 percent of possessions.
Russell in particular has taken off. Through February, when sharing the floor alongside Clarkson, Randle and Bryant, Russell sported a usage rate of 18.7 with a respectable player efficiency rating of 16.9.
In the 62-minute span in March alongside Clarkson and Randle but without Bryant, his usage rate and PER have soared above 30, the combination of high usage and high efficiency any team would crave from a star, let alone from a rookie who just turned 20 in February.
After Tuesday's win, Scott sounded like a man who knew this was coming: "This is what we thought they could play like. ... From the start of the season, we all knew it was going to take these guys time. It's just a matter of how much time."
Only time will tell if these recent developments prove to be a road map back toward long-term contention, a blip in a blighted season or something in between.
Regardless, for now the numbers show there is reason for optimism once No. 24 hangs it up for good.